I have to come clean. I wrote a scathing review of this unit earlier today. Last night, I set this up in our kitchen, but after fumbling for a couple hours to get decent reception from the ac cord/antenna, I gave up. Static and poor audio from every station on the fm dial -- and we live well within the bounds of Washington DC's radio coverage (and get great reception from all of our other radios and stereos). Well, joy of the internet! I read that refrigerators can interfere with other electronics that share the same outlet and can even interfere with electronics that are simply in the vicinity. As it turns out, I had indeed plugged the radio into the same outlet as the fridge and while I had tried everything to improve receptio last night -- even adding and extension cord to increase the "length" of the ac antenna -- it never occurred to me to try a different outlet. Sure enough, that did it. Problem solved. It turns out circuits with light dimmers can have a similar effect as fridges, too. Bottom line, make sure to select your outlet carefully. Sounds great now -- what difference. Can't seem to change the rating on this, but would give it 4 stars now, at least. Sony ICF-CDK70 Under Cabinet Kitchen Clock Radio with CD-Changer
Since my husband constantly listens to the radio at home this was a great way to save space and stop the constant tuning in of channels to get it right. Those preset channel savers are great!! I like having it mounted and off the floor or counter. The sound is SONY, need I say more. It's nice to have the 3 CDs available to be listened to as well. When I was researching this product I went into a retailer to get Sony's cheaper model and this more expensive model (about $30 +/-) was there. So many more features you cannot believe!!! I actually mounted it myself (being the perfectionist I am and having brand new kitchen cabinets) and that wasn't a problem either, even for me. Glad I made this purchase and from Amazon, I really saved about $30-50.
This radio is a replacement for a GE undercounter, which had reception issues. The reception on this Sony is excellent. On the GE I had to mess with the power cord and never did get rid of all the static. On this one I've got all but the last 4" of power cord wound around the holder. The remaining 4" goes to the power outlet. Reception excellent. I am getting a relatively weak am station 70 miles away with less static than with other radios in the house.
There is no place on the radio to hold the magnetic remote, so reserve another place, such as the suggested refrigerator, for the remote.
Audio In is great for any MP3 player....though the volume on both the player (ours is a Rio Carbon) and the radio has to be pretty cranked up and you won't rock the neighborhood even then.
Wish it had a battery backup for time and station memory.
I was looking for a quality CD player/radio for the kitchen and this is it. It receives radio well and the sound is excellent for a unit of this type. The pictures don't seem to do it justice. Although it appears somewhat "clunky" in the pictures, it does have an attractive appearence for a kitchen radio. I am very satisfied with this unit.
I bought this unit to replace a Magnavox under cabinet kitchen radio that failed. This one is much better.
What I like best:
1) Ease of use
2) Sound
3) Line in for my MP3 player
4) Takes 3 CDs
5) Styling
6) Remote control
Areas of improvement:
1) Takes a little long for CDs to start playing
2) Loose all presets if you unplug it
3) AM radio reception is weak
4) Programming the presets can be a pain
5) Back light stays on even after you turn off unit. We should be able to control whether back light turn offs when unit is powered down.
As far as I know, this is one of the highest quality, most feature packed, reasonably priced under cabinet kitchen radios out there. I highly recommend it.
This unit excels at the items which are second on my list, and fails at the most important.
The FM radio does little better than the GE under cabinet it replaced for. It has trouble consistently receiving the station I listen to most. This is a strong urban station, but we must be in some sort of odd shadow. Unfortunately the poor reception comes and goes, and changes with my body position next to the sink (try washing dishes without moving!) Fussing with power cable position is entertaining for bystanders but not particularly effective.
But the worse disappointment was to discover that the radio does not retain its settings even after the briefest power glitch. (boy that capacitor probably would have cost Sony manufacturing a whole cent a piece... I'm not sure I could afford that!) That would be OK if device were designed to be tuned manually. Its not. Its the old lab-rat peck peck peck on tuning buttons for your reward routine.
The power must be more reliable where the engineers live who designed this. Not here in Boston. We are entering the summer season when power interruptions go from one per season to one per month or worse.
What this unit does well: better sound (but not better than living room hi-fi rig.) CD player is fine, although it takes forever to switch from one CD to another. (20 seconds for #3 to #1 for those who care) I do not have an MP3 player, but the little bracket for it is cute and would be used, don't know why they did not add one for the remote!
The unit is pretty big, and I recall I had to mount it with some imagination. If you are going to put this under a single wide cabinet (16" wide) which is up against a wall on left (or right for that matter), and/or you have under cabinet lights, think about placement (not unique to this machine.) Just remember there are controls not only on front, but on both sides as well, so you can not mount it flush with right or left wall. - Sony - Kitchen Radio - Under The Counter Cd Player - Under Cabinet Cd Player'
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